PAUL SLADE:
Published between 1981 and 1984, Dave's six Swords of Cerebus volumes were his first attempt to collect the book in a more permanent form. He gave each story included in these volumes a prose introduction, explaining where the book stood when he'd been working on that particular issue and how he was thinking of its prospects at the time. We're currently covering the intros from Swords volume 2. Also check out the full 'Swords Of Cerebus' Introductions Index.
"(it’s also a picture of me in public school and senior public school, but we won’t go into that.)”
Next week: Dave discovers he can do anything he wants.
9 comments:
So anyone know who the short "Marvel inker" was? And where we can see them in this issue?
Also, as this was a case of Cerebus mooning over Jaka a la Charlie Brown and the little red-haired girl (as well as real life, as it says), is that why Cerebus has a bit of a Charlie Brown/Peanuts vibe to his line work?
Was the Marvel inker Archie Goodwin? I dunno.
By "this issue" I believe Dave means Swords #2 rather than Cerebus #6, Travis. Stay tuned till March 11, when we're scheduled to run this volume's final intro, and I think all will become clear.
... and when I say March 11, I mean, of course, March 13. Sorry about that - it's early here.
Facepalm
THAT'S what that means! I think what probably threw me off was that I originally read this intro in the Biweekly issue, and assumed it applied to #6, not to the Swords volume. Thanks for that clarity, Paul! I always thought that one of the background guys in the issue was supposed to be an Easter egg of a Marvel inker!
And I actually not only have a copy of this Swords, but it's right near the bed. I may have to cheat and look ahead!
And so far as I know, Jeff, Archie Goodwin was a writer and editor, not an inker. (Although I see on his Wikipedia, in the sidebar, that he apparently penciled some things!)
Of course, you're probably referring to either the basketball player or the assistant to Nero Wolfe ;)
Travis, hi! This was still in the time period when I was trying to make Cerebus look like an animation cell stripped into a BWS context. That is, I was trying to keep texture out of his rendering as completely as possible. It was proving to be a very difficult task and I ended up having to break my own rule but having to do so while adhering to the rule as much as possible.
For instance, there are shadows FROM Cerebus on the stage (which you wouldn't get with an animation cell, ordinarily) but there are no shadows ON Cerebus. i.e. under the snout, along his left arm. The problem was that BWS was a master at making a panel look "full" while doing a standard Marvel-panel amount of rendering. In trying to copy his effect, I didn't have that skill, so the panel ended up looking empty or relatively empty (compared to what BWS was able to accomplish). So, I'd get the panel "done" and then feel compelled to put really grotesque "brick tone" and cross-thatching behind the scene and shadows under Cerebus.
Geometric shapes establishing the perspective and "fattening up" the panel would have been a better choice, but I wasn't seeing that far into the page.
I'll be starting the commentaries for CAN7 this week (I hope) and, now that I have the Artist's Edition of BWS' RED NAILS I'll be able to show some of these differences more clearly in the Comments pages.
It's actually not a TERRIBLE BWS riff that I've got going: that's Barry (as I knew him back in the fan days) in a Thor shirt in the bottom left corner.
How I couldn't see that the brick tone absolutely killed all of the little BWS line details I put in is beyond me. I suspect it was one of those "scarce resources" things. There isn't a whole lot of money around here and if you're buying specialty tone specifically for CEREBUS, you damn well better use it. I think I still have most of that sheet around here somewhere.
Joe Rubenstein was featured elsewhere in that SWORDS, as I recall. Seems like he's the inker in question.
Wait…I do want to know how you came up with the end of the story.
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